How MIT Could Make It Possible to Photograph Black Holes

Light can't escape them, but we still might be able to take a look

Many images have been created of black holes, but they’re just that: images. Photographing a black hole has long seemed impossible, since the gravity of one is so powerful nothing can escape it, not even light.

Now, however, this dream may be achievable thanks to some assistance to astronomers by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Writes Tech Insider‘s Sarah Kramer: “We have no idea how the event horizon (or boundary) of a black hole might actually look to the human eye, since the gravity of black holes is so strong that not even light can escape. Black holes are also incredibly far away, and usually very compact. And we don’t really know what happens as an object approaches an event horizon, or what, if anything, might be on the other side.

“But scientists are working to clear those hurdles – and soon – with the help of artificial intelligence.”